Using dairy cows as Recips

[shortii]

Has anyone on here used dairy cattle as recips for beef cattle? Do Holsteins, brown Swiss or jersey cows work better than the other? Or is it not a good idea at all.

Thanks in advice for your advice

 

[cowman 52]

A lot of years ago, we used holstiens,  since they all calves about the same time, we doubled the calves up and sold 1 cow to a dairy.  I would guess that might not be as viable now but we didn't have to milk cows out.

 

[mbigelow]

If you have a feedlot to feed them then it could work,but in range conditions they dont hold up and some die off after calving.  At least that was our experience years ago.

 

[idalee]

I used to always use virgin Holstein heifers from a client for recipients.  Client raised them until about three weeks before due date,  when I brought them home so I could watch them more closely.    Small numbers,  but it seems that they tend to have bigger calves and more calving difficulties than using beef heifers.  Heifers went back to client the next day after calving and therefore,  I had to raise the calves artificially.  I used free choice acidified milk replacer which works extremely well but is very expensive. 

 

[Steve123]

When Trans Ova started they had feedlot's full of Holstein heifers for recip's but I think they have gotten away from that due to Johne's Disease.

We stopped at a Brangus outfit in Missouri in the late 80's and they said the best recip on the planet was a Brahman x Holstein.  "She milks and will kill an alligator to protect the calf."(their quote, not mine)

If you have a neighbor with a dairy that doesn't keep replacements, buy him an angus bull and take all the calves.

 

[shortybreeder]

I have had good success in the past with f1 dairy (2 holstein and 1 jersey) x hereford cows as recips. If I were to use pure dairy, I'd go with Jerseys. They'll have the best maternal calving ease abilities, and the high components content in the milk would be beneficial.

 

[Lucky_P]

I remain convinced that Johne's Disease was introduced into many beef herds that didn't have it, through the use of dairy - primarily Holstein - heifers/cows as embryo recips, particularly in the early days of ET.
While JD has always been present in beef cattle, it's present at much higher incidence in dairy cattle merely due to the way they're managed.

I'd be really squeamish about doing it unless I had in-depth knowledge of the JD status of the dairy herd they were originating from.

 

[vc]

There is a young lady in our county who's family owns a dairy, they flush her old show heifer and use the Holstein heifers as recips, they bottle feed the calves since those heifers go into the milk string after calving. I would say for the most part it has worked out for them, but then, they have plenty of milk to bottle feed with.

 

[OEF Simmentals]

We used a Simmental bull on our grandfathers dairy heifers a few years back. My brother decided to retain one of the half sim/Holstein heifers to use as a recip cow. She has been an outstanding mother and the calves grow extremely quickly due to the increased amount of milk. I've often wondered about using a full dairy but i think i'd have too many problems with mastitis.

 

[Airgator]

I have Brahman-Holstein, Brahman-Brown Swiss, and Brahman-Jersey.
In the past I used a Jersey-Holstein. a few years ago I bought a really clean looking Holstein heifer and raised her to use as a recip. She had the calf and cleaned it off but wouldn't allow it to nurse. That's where you have problems. In my experience you can't hand milk a Holstein or should I say I don't have the time to hand milk a Holstein. Yes, I am sure that someone or many will claim that they hand milk Holsteins all the time. If they have problems and don't nurse the calf their bag will get hard as a rock.  I sent the cow to the dairy and the deal was that I would get her back pregnant when they dried her off.  They dried her off early...because she kicked too much.  There is one problem with Brahman cross recips. The cervix changes and it becomes more difficult/impossible to get pregnant. So a rookie ET person might not be able to implant the embryo.